Perception of the community in Kerala on COVID-19 infection and its preventive measures

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 pandemic was started in December 2019. It has variable presentation from mild sore throat to severe respiratory distress. As we had seen there are no signs of it ending soon. Role of medical management in treatment is limited and so prevention of infection is the best mode to control the spread. It is important to identify people’s awareness about the infection. Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the awareness and their perception among people of kerala regarding outbreak, symptoms, preventive measures and treatment of covid-19. Objective: The primary objective was to evaluate the perception of the community in kerala on COVID-19 infection and its preventive measures. The secondary objective was to assess the factors affecting the awareness of COVID-19 among the community. Materials and Methods: An online survey was conducted from November 2020 to January 2021 among kerala community in relation to their perception towards Covid 19 infection and its preventive measures. Results: Total number of responses received were 610. Total 58.2% of the people agreed that the disease was contagious and spread by droplet, 84.1% of the people knew about asymptomatic carriers, 71.6% of the people believed that infection was curable while 18.5% were not sure about it. 6.1% thought that infection was incurable. Uni-variate analysis showed that neither gender, nor the socioeconomic or education status of the responder affected their level of knowledge about COVID-19. Conclusion: The study showed that the respondents had adequate awareness about COVID-19 outbreak and its preventive measures. People were aware of the virus, its common symptoms, prevention, lab tests and medical facilities. People understood the importance of preventive measures prescribed by the government like social distancing, hand washing, usage of face masks.